Jo Faith, Newtown
In his book The Biggest Estate on Earth, Bill Gammage writes of early settlers in Australia being astounded by the shaping and caring of the land by First Nations peoples.
Gammage asserts that this legacy was upheld by their ‘ecological consciousness’ which shaped and dominated their spiritual beliefs regarding land and spiritual existence. This recognised that humans must respect and tend all land, rivers, oceans, and biodiversity with a spiritual reverence. Earth was a living Mother that sustained all life. Duty was to leave Earth as it was when one was born.
We now witness the total plundering of it by mining magnates. Who, in turn, donate large sums to political elites to help them remain in governmental power.
Indigenous leader, Pat Turner, recently stated, ‘They have plundered our land and made billions, no – [ITAL]trillions – out of it, and the First Nation peoples have not received a penny’. Why do Australians tolerate such factors? Have we become grafted to such greed and low consciousness? We collectively are responsible for the ongoing genocidal actions enacted on First Nations peoples whose consciousness is far superior to the colonial legacy we politically/socially tolerate.
We collectively remain locked in a hubristic political consciousness that is colonial, cruel, greedy, structuraly impoverished, racist, and sad to say, genocidal when viewing the intergenerational trauma, suicide, and soul stripping brutality experienced by young offenders, stolen children and the rising number of Indigenous deaths in custody.
Recently a beautiful letter appeared in Econetdaily pleading for housing for First Nations elders so that their knowledge continues to be shared amongst younger generations.
We read of rezoning so that the elite can live with their bums in butter, but no news in the excellent Echo journal about the housing needs/remedy for First Nations elders. Why? Is it because the ‘Byron brand’ has such a monopoly on Byron consciousness and planning? We are honoured to have First Nations elders in the Shire! Respect. Warrior women rise!
